Lessons of Fukushima Powerpoint Majia Nadesan

1
Lessons From Fukushima

• Dr. Majia Holmer Nadesan

2
Abstract

• Lessons From Fukushima Governments and the Media
  Will Deceive the Public and Withhold Vital
  Information, Leaving Citizens to Create Informal
  Information Sharing NetworksThis paper will
  demonstrate that the Japanese and U.S.
  Governments withheld vital information from their
  citizens about the direction and risks of
  Fukushima radiation plumes and the degree and
  consequences of radioactive fallout. Second, the
  paper will demonstrate that the mainstream news
  media, including The Wall Street Journal and The
  New York Times, were complicit in hiding
  information about fallout levels, dispersion, and
  plant conditions. The U.S. media are commonly
  recognized as more independent from government
  than Japanese media. This disaster demonstrates
  that the U.S. mainstream news media censor
  information, even when public safety is at issue.
  Finally, this paper examines the spontaneous
  creation of information sharing sites and the
  subsequent development of a robust network of
  citizen-supported information sites in Japan and
  the United States.

3
Timeline

• The nuclear disaster began on March 11 after
  Fukushima reactors lost water.
• March 12 Fukushima reactor number 1 reactor
  exploded at 1530 after venting failed to release
  pressure.
• Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano confirms
  that the concrete building surrounding the steel
  reactor container has collapsed as a result of
  the blast, but the steel containment chamber
  itself had not been damaged (BBC Timeline
  http//www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-1272
  2719 )
• March 13 Assurances Risk is Low But Releases
  Steam from Unit 3
• 0320 The World Health Organisation says the
  risk to the public from the radiation leak at
  Fukushima is "probably quite low (BBC Timeline)
• March 14 An explosion occurred at the number 3
  reactor.
• March 15 An Explosion occurred at number 2
  reactor after initial assurances.
• Early March 15 containment structures of the
  three reactorswhich house the all-important
  reactor vesselsremain intact, Japanese official
  stressed, preventing large-scale radiation
  leaks.
• Later in the day on March 15, an explosion
  occurred in reactor number (Yuka Hayashi
  Nuclear Risk Rising in Japan, The Wall Street
  Journal (2011, March 15) A1, A12).
• Details of Unit 4 are Hotly Contested, Unclear

4
Fukushima Is a Major Disaster

• Fukushima cesium leaks 'equal 168 Hiroshima
  bombs,' says report National Aug. 26, 2011
  http//www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/f
  ukushima-cesium-leaks-equal-168-hiroshima-bombs-sa
  ys-report
• HOW MUCH FUEL "The Daiichi complex had a total
  of 1760 metric tons of fresh and used nuclear
  fuel on site last year, according to a
  presentation by its owners, the Tokyo Electric
  Power Company (Tepco). The most damaged Daiichi
  reactor, number 3, contains about 90 tons of
  fuel, and the storage pool above reactor 4, which
  the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions (NRCs)
  Gregory Jaczko reported yesterday had lost its
  cooling water, contains 135 tons of spent fuel.
  The amount of fuel lost in the core melt at Three
  Mile Island in 1979 was about 30 tons the
  Chernobyl reactors had about 180 tons when the
  accident occurred in 1986." http//news.sciencema
  g.org/scienceinsider/2011/03/how-much-fuel-is-at-r
  isk-at-fukushima.html?rss1 

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Background

• I was driven to create this presentation by the
  scale of the Fukushima disaster, and the
  invisibility of an adequate response.
• I drew upon my expertise as a scholar of
  communication to study government and media
  reports of the disaster since it began in March
  of 2011
• I study biopolitics, the study of the
  intersections across (1) economic models (2)
  health (3) and dominant frameworks for
  interpreting and mitigating disease.  In my
  research Ive studied autism, as interpreted
  across scientific paradigms- including biological
  psychiatry and genetics Ive also studied how
  economic models shape attitudes toward the health
  of the population, in relation to the workplace ,
  childrearing, and environmental risks. The
  biopolitics of Fukushima are a primary concern of
  my current research.
• To understand the significance of government and
  media accounts Ive researched radiation
  dispersion, radiation fallout and disease, and
  laboratory research on radiation, cell biology,
  and DNA. I received considerable assistance from
  diverse people, including those who post at
  Enenews, Fairewinds,, Fukushima Diary, Ex-SKF,
  Enformable, If You Love This Planet, NukePimp,
  etc. I also benefited from extended communication
  with people who have knowledge and expertise in
  radiation testing and other relevant issues,
  including Ret. Capt. Clyde Stagner, Robert
  Soltysik, Craig Daniels and my academic
  colleagues at ASU

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Background

• Many people know nothing about Fukushima. Yet, it
  has been spewing radiation for almost a year now
  and fires have raged at the plant.
• Japan is extensively contaminated. Fallout is
  everywhere in the northern hemisphere. Health
  effects are certain. However, doctors are not
  trained in detecting sub-acute exposure to
  radiation poisoning. Symptoms will be diverse,
  and not clearly linked to radiation by doctors
  trained in conventional models of medicine that
  focus primarily on genes and lifestyle.
• My data analysis of crisis communications and
  press releases reveals that governments have
  hidden the scope and severity of the crisis
  including its ongoing nature and the extent of
  fallout.
• So, people may very well lose decades of their
  life and never know the cause, even while they
  see deteriorating health all around them. I
  believe public health authorities need to take
  action to project health implications and adopt
  prevention and remediation strategies.
• I believe public health authorities need to take
  action to project health implications and adopt
  prevention and remediation strategies, especially
  in Japan but in the US and Canada as well.
• This presentation seeks to use a variety of data
  to demonstrate that governments and media have
  failed to disclose information vital to human
  health and welfare.

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Lessons From Fukushima

• Lesson 1 Democratic governments may elect to
  withhold vital information in the event of severe
  disasters
• The presentation demonstrates that the Japanese
  and U.S. Governments withheld vital information
  from their citizens about the direction and risks
  of Fukushima fallout.
• Lesson 2 The Western media may censor vital
  information
• The presentation demonstrates that the mainstream
  news media, including The Wall Street Journal and
  The New York Times, were complicit in hiding
  information about fallout levels, dispersion, and
  plant conditions.
• Lesson 3 Spontaneous citizens networks can
  emerge in response to government censorship and
  these networks have multiple functions, benefits,
  and drawbacks
• The presentation illustrates and examines the
  spontaneous creation of information sharing sites
  and the subsequent development of a robust
  network of citizen-supported information sites in
  Japan and the United States.

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Overview of Lesson 1 Government Censorship

• The Japanese and U.S. Governments withheld vital
  information from their citizens about the
  direction and risks of Fukushima radiation
  fallout. Thus, citizens were not adequately
  protected, evacuated to contaminated areas, and
  were not provided with Potassium Iodide tablets
  to combat uptake of Iodine-131.
• Japanese Speedi data censored
• Japanese officials resisted releasing important
  data about dispersion because of fear of
  panicking residents
• Japanese officials did not authorize potassium
  iodide pills because of their unwillingness to
  acknowledge scale of disaster
• Japanese officials failed to expand evacuation
  zone adequately because of censorship of
  dispersion severity
• Japanese officials tried to shut down radiation
  monitoring equipment to reduce public fears about
  contamination
• Japanese government officials set dangerously
  high standards for exposure and implemented
  faulty monitoring strategies
• Japanese government withheld a report of the
  worst case scenario and minutes of the Fukushima
  disaster response task force
• The Canadian and US Governments also failed to
  relay critical information about fallout and
  asserted no health effects despite evidence to
  the contrary
• Each claim is supported with evidence

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Lesson 1 Speedi Censored

• Japan used a system called SpeediSystem for
  Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose
  informationto model March radiation releases and
  blamed the delay in reporting results to the
  public in mid-April to their efforts to narrow
  the margin of error in their calculations,
  although nuclear regulators in other countries
  were privy to Speedis results early on.
• In July, the Atomic Energy Society of Japan
  publicly criticized the Japanese government and
  TEPCO for delays in reporting Speedi data to the
  public T
• the society notes that there is the possibility
  that the damage to people's health from radiation
  exposure has increased because the government,
  Tepco and related institutions did not properly
  disclose information on the status of the nuclear
  accidents and the environmental contamination by
  radioactive substances..
• Radiation hot spot in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture
  were not disclosed.
• Speedi data were given to the US military before
  the data were provided to Japanese citizens
• Hiroko Tabuchi, Keith Bradsher, and Andrew
  Pollack Japanese Officials on Defensive as
  Nuclear Alert Level Rises, The New York Times
  (2011, April 13) http//www.nytimes.com/2011/04/1
  3/world/asia/13japan.html.
• Tabuchi, Bradsher, and Pollack Japanese
  Officials on Defensive, http//www.nytimes.com/20
  11/04/13/world/asia/13japan.html
• Nuclear Accident Disclosure, Japan Times (2011,
  July 8) http//search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed
  20110708a1.html.

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Japanese Officials Resisted Releasing Data on
Radiation Dispersion

• Japan Economic Newswire (April 29, 2011).
  Weather chief draws flak over plea not to
  release radiation forecasts. Excerpted
• The chief of the Meteorological Society of Japan
  has drawn flak from within the academic society
  over a request for member specialists to refrain
  from releasing forecasts on the spread of
  radioactive substances from the troubled
  Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
• Niino later said in commenting on the intention
  he had in issuing the statement, "If (society
  members') forecasts were announced, it would have
  carried the risk that ordinary people may panic.
• In this new statement, he said the principle of
  keeping information sources unified "should be
  applied when a country is going through a
  critical situation" and "should not be applied
  now that the release of radioactive substances
  has been prolonged.
• The controversy over Niino's statements came to
  light when a series of delays in the release by
  the government of information related to the
  spread of radioactive substances have come under
  intense public scrutiny. end excerpt

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Japanese Officials Failed to Dispense Potassium
Iodide Pills

• Fukushima area municipal entities had supplies of
  potassium iodide pills but the Japanese disaster
  manuals stipulated that local officials wait for
  orders from the national government to
  distribute.
• Tokyo waited 5 days after Mar 11 before ordering
  distribution
• WSJ writes The failure to disburse the
  preventive pills follows other examples of how
  the Japanese government failed to implement
  available measures aimed at protecting local
  residents from the harms of radiation
• Hayashi, Y. (2011, September 29). Japan
  Officials Failed to Hand Out Radiation Pills in
  Quakes Aftermath The Wall Street Journal.

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Lesson 1 Governments Censor Risk Leading to
Inadequate Evacuation

• On March 11, the Japanese government ordered
  persons within a 1.9 mile radius of the Fukushima
  I plant to evacuate and recommended that those
  within 6.2 miles stay within their homes.
• On March 12, the evacuation was extended to 20
  kilometers.
• On March 13, after the first explosion, the World
  health Organization reported that the risk from
  the reactors was probably quite low.
• On March 17, the U.S. declared that U.S. citizens
  and troops should stay at least 50 miles from the
  Fukushima reactors.
• March 25 the Japanese government declared a
  voluntary evacuation for people within 30
  kilometers of the plant while the official
  evacuation zone remained 20 kilometers, or
  approximately 20 miles.
• On April 4, The Wall Street Journal reported that
  Japanese authorities had finally acknowledged
  that the evacuation zone needed to be expanded
  beyond the 20 kilometer zone.
• April 8 Evacuation zone still at 20 kilometers
  intends to limit exposure to 50 millisieverts
• "Timeline Japan Power Plant Crisis," BBC News
  (2011, March 13) http//www.bbc.co.uk/news/scienc
  e-environment-12722719.  
• Norihiko Shirouzu and Rebecca Smith U.S. Sounds
  Alarm On Radiation, The Wall Street Journal
  (2011, March 17) A1.
• Andrew Morse and Mitsuru Obe Setback for Japan
  at Rogue Reactors, The Wall Street Journal
  (2011, March 26-27) A1. 
• Yoree Koh, Daisuke Wakabayashi, and Miho Inada
  Worries Mount Over Residents Still Near Plant,
  The Wall Street Journal (2011, April 4) A11.
• Sekiguchi Obe (2011, April 8). Japan Weighs
  Wider Evacuation Zone. A6.
•  

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Lesson 1 Mar 31 Japanese Government Sought to
Shut Down Radiation Monitoring

• During first month of the crisis the Japanese
  government sought to shut down radiation
  monitoring to prevent citizens from panicking
• The Prometheus Trap / Order to Suspend Radiation
  Monitoring Feb 6, 2012 Asahi
• On March 31, 2011, Michio Aoyama, a 58-year-old
  researcher at the Meteorological Research
  Institute of the Japan Meteorological Agency, was
  attending an International Atomic Energy Agency
  (IAEA) conference in Monaco when he received an
  e-mail from Japan. As he read the message, Aoyama
  could not help but shake his head in
  incomprehension and disbelief.
• "We're discontinuing radiation monitoring? Now?
  But we've been doing it for more than half a
  century!
• The sender of the e-mail was Takashi Inoue, 47,
  a researcher at the institute's Office of
  Planning in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture.
  According to Inoue, he received a phone call from
  the meteorological agency's Planning Division in
  Tokyo at 6 p.m. on March 31. The caller told
  Inoue, "Effective tomorrow, there will be no more
  budget for radiation monitoring. Please do as you
  see fit at your end.
• http//ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushim
  a/AJ201202060076

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Japanese Government Understated Radiation Threats
and Set High Standards for Exposure

• Toshiso Kosako resigned from the Japanese
  Governments panel of nuclear experts on April 30
  in response to the governments ceiling on
  unacceptable standards of radiation levels in
  schoolyards.
• Dr Kosako claimed that the Japanese government
  understated radiation risks and was slow to test
  for risks posed by contaminated seawater and
  seafood
• Hayashi, Y. (2011, July 2-3). Ex-Advisor Says
  Tokyo Understated Radiation Threats. The Wall
  Street Journal, p. A7.

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Lesson 1 Japanese Government Censored Disaster
Report

• Cabinet Kept Alarming Nuke Report Secret Japan
  Times January 22
• Japanese Government buried a worst-case account
  of the Fukushima disaster by treating it as a
  personal document of Japans Atomic Energy
  Agency.
• The report projected that in the worst case
  scenario the plant would intermittently release
  radiation for about a year.
• The report was buried in part because the
  Japanese government recognized it could not
  successfully evacuate citizens the necessary 170
  kilometers out. http//www.japantimes.co.jp/text/n
  n20120122a1.html
• An interim report produced by the Japanese
  Government found that the government delayed
  relaying vital information to the public about
  the seriousness of the meltdowns and the
  radiation releases
• Kageyama, Yuri (2011, December 260. Japan probe
  finds nuclear disaster response failed. The
  Associated Press. Available http//www.google.com
  /hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jJMKHqE_ffiXqRQKfiRIA
  rgaojBw?docId38cf0057befd494a98dac1dccbcf47c7
  and Japans Executive Summary of the Interim
  Report found here http//www.bloomberg.com/news/20
  11-12-26/fukushima-probe-highlights-nuclear-regula
  tor-in-list-of-nuclear-failures.html

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Lesson 1 Japans Industry Minister Kept NO
MINUTES of Fukushima Taskforce

• TOKYO (Kyodo) Japanese industry minister Yukio
  Edano on Tuesday apologized for the government's
  failure to take minutes of meetings of a
  taskforce dealing with the Fukushima nuclear
  crisis and said that he has instructed the
  Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to compile
  them soon based on notes taken by meeting
  attendees.
• Edano said at a press conference that although
  the meetings were held in emergency situations
  soon after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi
  power plant, the government should have created
  minutes as soon as possible considering the
  public interest in the matter and the significant
  social impact that the handling of the accident
  has.
• "As then-Chief Cabinet Secretary and the current
  Economy, Trade and Industry Minister, I
  apologize," he said.
• Various crisis management decisions were made at
  the taskforce's meetings, such as setting of the
  evacuation zone and policies for conducting
  decontamination work after the leakage of
  radioactive materials from the crippled power
  plant.
• http//mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120124p2g00m
  0dm144000c.html

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Lesson 1 Government Manipulation of Exposure
Data Persists in Japan

• AKIKO OKAZAKI Fukushima group calls QRS radiation
  tests bogus (2012, Jan 2012). http//ajw.asahi.com
  /article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201201270050
• A Fukushima day-care group sent letters earlier
  this month warning its members of what it sees as
  fraudulent tests to measure internal radiation
  exposure among kindergarteners and preschoolers.
  Many scientists have also questioned the
  effectiveness and legitimacy of the QRS.
• "The QRS is an offspring of a device developed by
  a U.S. physician about a century ago, but it is
  not recognized as medical equipment either in the
  United States or Japan," said Macoto Kikuchi, a
  physics professor at Osaka University, who
  co-authored a book titled "Okashina Kagaku"
  (Suspicious science). "It is perceived as 'bogus'
  by scientists. The extent of internal exposure
  should be indicated in units of becquerels.
  Assessment of health should be impossible without
  figures (in becquerels).
• Speech by Professor Tasuhiko Kodama Head of the
  Radioisotope Center at the Univ. of Tokyo July 27
  giving testimony to the Committee on Welfare and
  Labor in Japans Lower House in the Diet
  Criticized the governments failure to provide
  sensitive meters to test internal exposure and
  notes that internal radiation exposure measured
  in millisieverts is utterly meaningless

18
Lesson 1 Conclusions for Japan

• Japanese government and Tepco authorities
  trivialized the risk and withheld vital
  information about the risks, leading people to
  take inadequate safety preparations and causing
  people to fail to evacuate to safe areas.
• This inappropriate minimization of risk persists
  in the monitoring of citizens internal radiation
  exposure and in the testing of food and water.

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Overview of Lesson 1 US and Canada

• US Canadian Officials Censored and Trivialized
  Radiation Fallout, Preventing Citizens from
  Taking Simple Measures that Might Have Reduced
  Exposure Risks
• Canadian gov. failed to disclose Iodine-131 in
  precipitation
• Canadian gov. failed to test for contamination
  (or release results)
• US officials minimized risks despite models
  predicting health effects from exposure to
  Fukushima Iodine-131 in Alaska and detection of
  Iodine-131 throughout nation
• These incidents reveal a failure to warn and
  protect the public in a context of new knowledge
  about the harmful health effects of exposure to
  relatively low-levels of ionizing radiation

20
Canadian Officials Failed To Disclose Fallout
Exceeding Safety Levels

• What are officials hiding about Fukushima? By
  Alex Roslin Oct 20 2011 http//www.straight.com/ar
  ticle-491941/vancouver/what-are-officials-hiding-a
  bout-fukushima
• data shows rainwater in Calgary last March had
  an average of 8.18 becquerels per liter of
  radioactive iodine, easily exceeding the Canadian
  guideline of six becquerels per liter for
  drinking water.
• Its above the recommended level for drinking
  water, Eric Pellerin, chief of Health Canadas
  radiation-surveillance division, admitted in a
  phone interview from Ottawa. At any time you
  sample it, it should not exceed the guideline.
• Canadian government officials didnt disclose
  the high radiation readings to the public.
  Instead, they repeatedly insisted that fallout
  drifting to Canada was negligible and posed no
  health concerns.

21
Lesson 1 Governments Reduce Perceptions of Risk
By Failing to Test

• Roslin cont Health Canadas data on rainwater
  is also puzzling for another reason. It sharply
  contrasts with the data collected by SFU
  associate professor of chemistry Krzysztof
  Starosta. He found iodine-131 levels in rainwater
  in Burnaby spiked to 13 becquerels per litre in
  the days after Fukushima. Thats many times
  higher than the levels detected in Vancouver by
  Health Canada.
• Food is another big question mark. The Canadian
  Food Inspection Agency briefly tested Japanese
  food imports from the area around Fukushima, but
  it dropped those measures in June. Canada now
  relies on Japanese authorities to screen
  contaminated food.

22
US Officials Minimize Risk

• We Do Not Expect Harmful Levels of Radiation To
  Reach U.S.http//www.youtube.com/watch?vlpAqiGSp
  29c
• Broad, W. (2011, March 13). "Military Crew Said
  to Be Exposed to Radiation, but Officials Call
  Risk in US Slight" New York Times
  http//www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14plu
  me.html?_r1
• On Sunday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said
  it expected no harmful levels of radioactivity
  to move on the winds to Hawaii, Alaska or the
  West Coast from the reactors in Japan, given the
  thousands of miles between the two countries.

23
Safe? Cascades and Hot Particles

• Research conducted by Arnie Gunderson and Marco
  Kaltofen
• In the early days of the disaster, 10 hot
  particles a day inhaled in Seattle, 100X more in
  Japan.
• Hot spots of hot particles in Seattle and local
  contamination throughout Cascades of 100
  becquerels (disintegrations per second) in about
  2 pounds of dirt
• Marco Kaltofen found 100 becquerels from
  Cesium-134 and 137 in a square meter in the
  Portland Oregon area. This research was conducted
  before November 6
• The radiation is going to cause cancer on a
  statistical basis
• Findings discussed in Update from Gundersen on
  Robert Knight's Five O'Clock Shadow - WBAI, New
  York http//fairewinds.com/content/update-gunderse
  n-robert-knights-five-oclock-shadow-wbai-new-york
• The data Gunderson discusses in this recent
  interview were presented in a November 6
  Interview - with Marco Kaltofen - titled
  "Airborne Radiation Spread" http//enenews.com/uni
  versity-researcher-weve-seen-radioactive-rain-outs
  -in-areas-of-oregon-and-washington-areas-with-a-lo
  t-more-radiation-video  0r http//www.youtube.com/
  watch?vRJe7rCHXgYs
• Paper by Marco Kaltofen (2011, Oct. 31)
  Radiation Exposure to the Population in Japan
  after the Earthquake. American Public Health
  Association. http//apha.confex.com/apha/139am/web
  program/Paper254015.html

24
Iodine-131 in Kansas and Pacific Northwest

• Govt Report Kansas detected Iodine-131 in grass
  at over 2,000 pCi/kg Attributed to Fukushima
  Report of Radiological Environmental Monitoring
  of the Environs Surrounding Wolf Creek Generating
  Station, Kansas Department of Health and
  Environment, July 2010-June 2011 Sample
  WCFV-1-A-005-2.5Location SharpeType
  PasturageDate April 5, 2011
• Sample contained 2072.0 72 pCi/kg 131I and
  503.0 29 137Cs. This was not a result of WCGS
  operation, but is attributed to the Fukushima
  nuclear incident in Japan.
• Radiation Levels in Northwest Rain Were Up to
  131 Times Drinking Water Standards Following
  Fukushima, Japan Nuclear Reactor Explosion.
  Heart of American Northwest. Press Release July
  7 Radiation Levels in Rain in WA and OR were
  high enough to be of concern despite news reports
  and officials stating that levels were below any
  level of public health concern

25
EPA Data and Individual Sampling Show Elevated
Levels of Radiation

• Analysis of EPA data by Independent Consultant
  Robert Soltysik (http//freepdfhosting.com/e9ba187
  7d6.pdf)
• He also analyzed the December EPA radiation data
  from Corvallis, Oregon for 2008 and 2011.
• Beta was 2.1 times higher (112). Gamma range 3
  (200-400 keV) was up 4.4, gamma range 5 (600-800
  keV) was up 8.2, and gamma range 6 (800-1000
  keV) was up 4.8.
• Ret. Capt. Clyde Stagner conducted similar
  analysis for Phoenix using EPA Envirofacts
  database for 2011 and 2010 and found 2011 up
  18.3 Gross Beta as compared to 2010

Time Period US beta radiation level N plt
March 15-31 5.09x background 1093 .001
April 1-30   2.01x background 1877 .001
May 1-23 1.15x background 1173 .011
26
Fukushima Uranium Transport Facilitated by Use of
Seawater

• Uranyl peroxide enhanced nuclear fuel corrosion
  in seawater
• Christopher R. Armstronga,1, May Nymanb, Tatiana
  Shvarevaa, Ginger E. Sigmonc, Peter C. Burnsc,d,
  and Alexandra Navrotskya,2
• aPeter A. Rock Thermochemistry Laboratory and
  Nanomaterials in the Environment, Agriculture and
  Technology Organized Research Unit, University of
  California Davis, Davis, CA 95616
• bSandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
  87185
• cDepartment of Civil Engineering and Geological
  Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame,
  IN 46556 and
• dDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
  University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556
• Contributed by Alexandra Navrotsky, November 30,
  2011 (sent for review October 31, 2011)
• Abstract
• The Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident brought
  together compromised irradiated fuel and large
  amounts of seawater in a high radiation field.
  Based on newly acquired thermochemical data for a
  series of uranyl peroxide compounds containing
  charge-balancing alkali cations, here we show
  that nanoscale cage clusters containing as many
  as 60 uranyl ions, bonded through peroxide and
  hydroxide bridges, are likely to form in solution
  or as precipitates under such conditions. These
  species will enhance the corrosion of the damaged
  fuel and, being thermodynamically stable and
  kinetically persistent in the absence of
  peroxide, they can potentially transport uranium
  over long distances.

27
Significance of Fallout

• Mangano, J. Sherman, J. (2012). An Unexpected
  Mortality Increase in the United States Following
  Arrival of the Radioactive Plume from Fukushima
  Is There a Correlation? International Journal of
  Health Services, 42(1) 47-62.
• Excess mortality statistics called by independent
  researcher Robert Soltysik http//freepdfhosting.c
  om/ccafb5715d.pdf http//i40.tinypic.com/2q39p8p.j
  pg

28
Significance?

• For every 10 mSv of low-dose ionizing radiation,
  there was a 3 increase in the risk of age- and
  sex-adjusted cancer over a mean follow-up period
  of five years (hazard ratio 1.003 per
  milliSievert, 95 confidence interval
  1.0021.004). Cancer risk related to low-dose
  ionizing radiation from cardiac imaging in
  patients after acute myocardial infarction. By M
  J. Eisenberg, Jonathan A., P. R. Lawler, M.
  Abrahamowicz , Hugues R., L. Pilote
  http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC305094
  7/?toolpubmed
• New Research on childhood leukemia and nuclear
  plants suggests significant health effects from
  low levels of ionizing radiation International
  Journal of Cancer study by C. Sermage-Faure, D.
  Laurier, S. Goujon-Bellec, M. Chartier, A.
  Guyot-Goubin, J. Rudant, D. Hemon and J. Clavel,
  Childhood leukemia around French nuclear power
  plants the Geocap study, 2002 2007,
  http//onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.274
  25/pdf.
• Prof. Yuri Bandazhevsky found that children
  contaminated with cesium-137 producing 50
  disintegrations per second (becquerels) per
  kilogram of body weight suffered irreversible
  heart damage . (Starrr, S. 2012 Health Threat
  From Cesium 1-137. Japan Times Feb 16. Available
  http//www.japantimes.co.jp/text/rc20120216a1.html
  
• Genomic Damage in Children Accidently Exposed to
  Ionizing Radiation A Review of the Literature.
  Fucic, A. et al. (2008). Mutation Research, 658,
  111-123. Overall, the evidence from the
  studiesreveals consistently increased chromosome
  aberration and micronuclei frequency in exposed
  than in referent children
• New Understandings of radiation Bystander effect
  and DNA Instability
• New model emphasizes how low-dose radiation can
  cause indirect damage to cells through the
  bystander effect and through genomic instability.
  The effects of low-dose ionizing radiation are
  variable and can reduce DNA repair mechanisms,
  operate lethally on cells or some instances
  activate them depending upon type of radiation,
  chemical environment, etc.
• Dietrich Averbeck, a, Towards a New Paradigm for
  Evaluating the Effects of Exposure to Ionizing
  Radiation Mutation Research/Fundamental and
  Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis Volume 687,
  Issues 1-2, 1 May 2010 pages 7-12

29
NRC NO HARMFUL LEVELS

• excerpt On Sunday, the International Atomic
  Energy Agency offered a spot of good news. The
  prevailing winds at Daiichi are blowing to the
  northeast, out to sea, and should continue to do
  so for the next three days.
• If the wind carries the emissions to sea, that
  will certainly minimize the human and
  environmental impacts in Japan, said Timothy
  Mousseau of the University of South Carolina, who
  has spent the past decade studying the ecological
  consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
• Such emissions would not endanger the United
  States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
  announced Sunday in a statement. Given the
  thousands of miles between the countries, the
  United States is not expected to experience any
  harmful levels of radioactivity. In other words,
  the danger could simply dissipate over the
  Pacific.
• Ultimate impact of damage to Japan nuclear
  reactors still unknown. Brian Vastag, Published
  March 13, 2011http//www.washingtonpost.com/nation
  al/ultimate-impact-of-damage-to-japan-nuclear-reac
  tors-still-unknown/2011/03/13/ABbwoBU_story.html

30
NRC Failed to Disclose Its Scenarios for Fallout
in Alaska

• Washington Post While assuring Americans
  publicly that there was no danger, the NRC did
  not disclose one worst-case scenario, which did
  not rule out the possibility of radiation
  exceeding safe levels for thyroid doses in
  Alaska, the e-mails show. Because things were
  uncertain, we considered it but the data that was
  available .?.?. did not support that very
  pessimistic scenario so no, it was not discussed
  publicly at that point, NRC spokesman Scott
  Burnell said. In the end, Alaska was not
  affected. (Mufson, S. 2012, Feb 7. Messages
  show conflict within NRC after Japans
  earthquakes and tsunami WashingtonPost
  http//www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/mes
  sages-show-conflict-within-nrc-after-japan-earthqu
  ake-and-tsunami/2012/01/09/gIQA2ll6uQ_print.html
• Japan not alone in failing to protect population
  The WSJs criticism of Japan may apply to NRC
  The failure to disburse the preventive pills
  follows other examples of how the Japanese
  government failed to implement available measures
  aimed at protecting local residents from the
  harms of radiation Hayashi, Y. (2011, September
  29). Japan Officials Failed to Hand Out
  Radiation Pills in Quakes Aftermath

31
Deliberate Government Censorship?

• No health effects are expected among the
  Japanese people as a result of the events at
  Fukushima, read a statement issued by the
  Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry
  trade group, at a June Washington Press
  conference (Karl Grossman Fukushima and the
  Nuclear Establishment, Counterpunch 2011, June
  16 http//counterpunch.org/grossman06162011.html)
  .
• According to The Guardian, two days after the
  earthquake British government authorities
  contacted nuclear companies including
  Westinghouse, Areva, EDF Energy, and the Nuclear
  Industry Association to coordinate a public
  relations campaign aimed at assuring the public
  nuclear is safe in order to avoid resistance to a
  new generation of nuclear plants planned for the
  UK. In April, the UK office for nuclear
  development met with nuclear companies in London
  to "to discuss a joint communications and
  engagement strategy aimed at ensuring we maintain
  confidence among the British public on the safety
  of nuclear power stations and nuclear new-build
  policy in light of recent events at the Fukushima
  nuclear power plant."
• Rob Edwards Revealed British Government's Plan
  To Play Down Fukushima, The Guardian (2011, June
  30) http//www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/ju
  n/30/british-government-plan-play-down-fukushima.

32
ConclusionLessons from Government Censorship

• Public cannot currently rely on government to
  accurately describe risks posed by an ongoing
  disaster nor can they rely on government to
  evaluate ongoing risks to health posed by
  disasters
• Government regulatory agencies are likely to
  minimize risks in order to prevent panic and
  public outrage

33
Lessons from Government Censorship

• Japan betrayed citizens over radiation danger
  ABC Ballarat Australian Broadcasting
  Corporation ABC Australia. Mark Willacy January
  19, 2012
• Japan has been accused of betraying its own
  people by giving the American military
  information about the spread of radiation from
  Fukushima more than a week before it told the
  Japanese public.
• The mayor of a Japanese community abandoned
  because of its proximity to the Fukushima nuclear
  plant has told AM the governments actions are
  akin to murder.
• An official from Japans science ministry, which
  was in charge of mapping the spread of radiation,
  has acknowledged to AM that perhaps the public
  should have been told about the dangers at the
  same time the US military was informed. ...
• Just three days after the tsunami crushed the
  Fukushima nuclear plant, Japans science ministry
  handed over computer predictions about the
  radiation dispersal to the US military. ...
  Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba
• Because we had no information, we were
  unwittingly evacuating to an area where the
  radiation level was high. So Im very worried
  about the peoples health
• I feel pain in my heart but also rage over the
  poor actions of the government
• Its not nice language, but I still think it was
  an act of murder
• What were they thinking when it came to peoples
  dignity and lives? I doubt that they even thought
  about our existence
• Itaru Watanabe from the science ministry says the
  government
• According to the government panel investigating
  the disaster, the information about the potential
  spread of radiation could have been given to the
  public
• The science ministry should have told the
  nuclear disaster task force to pass on the data
  to the people But we didnt think of that

34
Overview Lesson 2

• Government censorship and denial can succeed
  because the mainstream media largely fail to
  investigate government and Tepco reports.
• Censorship/Data Manipulation evident in media
  reporting
• Pattern Exists Between Alarming Initial Reports
  and Subsequent Efforts by Officials to Minimize
  Perceptions of Danger, Which Are Reported
  Uncritically by Mainstream Media
• Media, including western media, may directly
  withhold vital information deliberately and as a
  result of their unwillingness to question or
  investigate official pronouncements
• Mainstream media may frame issues in ways that
  inaccurately and/or misleadingly represent the
  significance and/or severity of the information.

35
Summary of Media Misrepresentations

• During the early days of the disaster the
  Japanese press reported
• That no explosions had occurred
• That no more explosions would occur within hours
  of more explosions
• That no meltdowns had occurred
• That no radiation had been released
• that the effects of radiation released was too
  small to affect health
• That contamination was limited to peoples
  clothes
• That no danger was posed by radioactive iodine in
  tap water
• That contaminated food was safe to eat
• US news media even less critical in reporting
  than Japanese press, particularly given an
  inability to formalize in print
• that meltdowns had occurred
• that melt-throughs were reported
• that cold shutdown is a fantasy
• Japanese, American and other nations media all
  systematically under-represented the scale of
  radiation releases, their ongoing dynamics, and
  their probable health effects
• In particular, emphasis on no immediate effects
  and no acute effects functioned to mislead
  publics about severity of releases

36
A Note on Method Analyzing Mainstream Press
Reporting in Japan, Canada, US

• We learn the most from the Japanese press when
  they interview experts not employed by Tepco or
  the national Japanese government.
• Typically, an informative Japanese press release
  is followed by contradictory statements from
  Japanese government and Tepco officials
• Observers must discern developments from leaked
  comments by officials, Japanese bloggers
  investigations (Ex-SKF and Fukushima Diary),
  from FOIA requests, (Enformable) and from
  crowd-sourced interpretations of the Tepco and
  JNN reported plant data and webcams.
• Observers interpretations of webcam are limited
  by a variety of factors, including increasingly
  poor visibility and outright censorship.

37
Propaganda Techniques

• Or-well January 15, 2012 at 1146 am Log in to
  Reply
• RE-BUNK restating a position that is not
  well-supported factually, or restating it with
  details changed. Serves to promote confusion,
  intended to support a weak or unsupportable
  position.
• E.G. Reactors are in cold-shutdown partial
  meltdown
• POST-BUNKING pro-active and after-the-fact.
  Restates a position, or promotes false/misleading
  info or adds false/misleading info in response to
  new or discovered conditions. May serve to
  reposition or even change a previously stated
  position or intention.
• No immediate health effects
• PRE-BUNKING falsely positioning future intended
  acts or consequences, falsely framing terms of
  future discussion, serves to obfuscate and/or
  limit discovery through complete dialogue.
• no Chernobyl
• http//enenews.com/study-authors-now-20000-excess-
  u-s-deaths-after-fukushima-not-14000-follow-up-art
  icle-looking-at-age-groups-cities-in-works

38
Japanese Authorities on Japanese Television
(Pre-Bunking ) No Meltdown, No Danger

• During the midst of these disasters, Japanese
  authorities insisted that there was little to no
  danger. On March 12, University of Tokyo
  Professor Naoto Sekimura appeared repeatedly on
  Japanese television to reassure local residents
  that all was under control.
• David McNeill of CNN reports Sekimuras
  comments Only a small part of the fuel may
  have melted and leaked outside, he said.
  Residents near the power station should stay
  calm, because most of the fuel remains inside
  the reactor, which has stopped operating and is
  being cooled. In April, a former nuclear
  regulator who had served as a consultant to TEPCO
  in April claimed publicly that there was no
  danger of a total meltdown.
• David McNeill Who's Telling the Truth On the
  Fukushima Meltdown? CNNGo.Com (2011, June 15)
  CNNGo.com http//www.cnngo.com/tokyo/life/tell-me-
  about-it/david-mcneill-whos-telling-truth-fukushim
  a-448215ixzz1PMTJwTk1.
•  
• Ex-Regulator Resigns from Tepco, Reuters video
  (2011, April 19) http//www.reuters.com/article/v
  ideo/idUSTRE73I10E20110419?videoId204721879.

39
Lesson 2 Denying ExplosionsComparison of
Initial Reports With Subsequent Statements
(Post-Bunking)

• Report from Ex-SKF here Saturday, March 12, 2011
• Ex-SKF Explosion at Fukushima Nuclear Plant,
  Evacuation Expanded to 20 Kilometers, Government
  Doesnt Tell the whole Truth
• 430 pm, disaster prevention radio is flowing
  again. "There have been reports (that the
  explosion), it was a mistake."
• http//ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/03/explosion-at-fu
  kushima-i-nuclear-plant.html. His links for
  sources
• http//www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20110313-OY
  T1T00047.htm?frommain3
• http//translate.google.com/translate?slautotle
  njsnprev_thlenieUTF-8layout2eotf1uht
  tp3A2F2Fwww.yomiuri.co.jp2Fnational2Fnews2F2
  0110313-OYT1T00047.htm3Ffrom3Dmain3

40
Japanese Press Uncritically Repeat Government
Assertions No Radiation Leaks

• The Japan Times March 12, 2011, Saturday Kan
  pledges full rescue responseKanako Takahara,
  Staff writer Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the
  government is doing its utmost to ensure the
  public's safety and minimize the damage,
  including dispatching the Self-Defense Forces for
  rescue operations, following the massive
  earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region
  Friday.
• "I ask the people to act with calm and continue
  to listen carefully for information via
  television and radio," Kan said in a televised
  address.He said some nuclear power plants
  stopped operations but the government detected no
  radiation leaks.

41
Sample Analysis Press Releases Aimed at
Minimizing Perceptions of Risk Emphasize No
Health Effects

• Jiji Press March 12 News Addresses Radiation
  Releases
• Jiji Press Ticker Service March 12, 2011 Saturday
  1113 PM JST (Update) Blast Hits Japan N-Reactor
  Building Container Unhurt
• Because of the pressure release, radioactive
  substance may have leaked. At 329 p.m. on the
  fringe of the plant's grounds, the company
  detected radiation of 1,015 microsieverts per
  hour, almost equivalent to the maximum allowable
  annual radiation exposure of 1,000 microsieverts
  for a civilian. The radiation level was reduced
  later.
• Jiji Press March 13 Information Management
  Aimed At Reducing Perceptions of Risk
• March 13, 2011 Sunday 127 PM JST (Update) Safety
  of Japanese Nuclear Reactor Secured after Blast
  There appear to be little risk for now that a
  massive amount of radioactive substances will
  leak from the reactor, officials at the Nuclear
  and Industrial Safety Agency said. Chief Cabinet
  Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference
  that the amount of radioactive substances
  released due to the work is so small that human
  health is not affected. (http//www.lexisnexis.com
  .ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?verbs
  rcsi169235stermsPUBLICATION(KyodoNewsInterna
  tionalTokyo))

42
Media Report Official Statements Uncritically
Despite Absurdity Radiation Exposure Limited to
Clothes

• Japanese Residents May Have Been Exposed to
  RadiationTokyo, March 13 Jiji Press Ticker
  Service 1019 AM http//www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy
  1.lib.asu.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?verbsrcsi16
  9235stermsPUBLICATION(KyodoNewsInternationalT
  okyo)
• Nine residents may have been exposed to
  radiation while being evacuated from an area near
  a quake-damaged nuclear plant in northern Japan,
  a government official said Sunday morning. The
  residents were evacuated by bus from the town of
  Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, where the No. 1
  Fukushima nuclear plant is located, Chief Cabinet
  Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference.
• Edano said the exposure was apparently limited to
  their clothes, there will be no serious health
  damage, Edano said

43
March 14 No Danger After Initial Explosions

•  Jiji Press Ticker Service March 14, 2011 Monday
  1140 PM JST (Update) Partial Meltdown May Have
  Occurred at Another Fukushima Reactor
  http//www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/hot
  topics/lnacademic/?verbsrcsi169235stermsPUBLI
  CATION(KyodoNewsInternationalTokyo)
• Tepco said Monday evening that the No. 2 reactor
  of its quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power
  plant may have experienced a partial meltdown.
  The fuel rods of the reactor, each of which is 4
  meters long, became fully exposed to air because
  of a substantial drop in the amount of cooling
  water in the reactor, according to the firm's
  report to the prefectural government of
  Fukushima, northeastern Japan. For about two
  hours after that, the reactor appeared to have
  kept operating without any cooling water, and
  this might have caused the fuel rods to melt
• Tepco also said that the No. 1 and No. 2
  reactors at its Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant
  were no longer in dangerous states as the
  temperatures inside the reactors fell below 100
  degrees Celsius.
• Unit 2 Explodes March 15

44
No Danger in From Radioactive Iodine in Tap Water

• This analysis of news framing was conducted by
  blogger Ex-SKF March 19 comparing Kyodo News
  Japanese and Kyodo News English
  http//ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/03/japan-earthquak
  e-kyodo-news-english-vs.html
• One of the major headlines in Kyodo News English
  site (front page)Radioactive iodine beyond
  limit detected in tap water in Fukushima
• One of the major headlines in Kyodo News Japanese
  site (front page) (translation)Radioactive
  iodine and cesium detected in tap water in
  Ibaragi, below limit, no health risk
• Ex-SKF comments Is this some kind of a joke?
  English language news for doom and gloom foreign
  media consumption, and Japanese language news for
  extend and pretend Japanese media consumption?

45
Japanese Nuclear Regulators Still
Mis-Representing Scale of Disaster in April

• In April, a former nuclear regulator who had
  served as a consultant to TEPCO in April claimed
  publicly that there was no danger of a total
  meltdown.
• Ex-Regulator Resigns from Tepco, Reuters video
  (2011, April 19) http//www.reuters.com/article/v
  ideo/idUSTRE73I10E20110419?videoId204721879.

46
Rating of Accident Failed to Reflect Severity of
Multiple Explosions and Massive Releases

• Fukushima N-Plant Accidents Rated Level 5, Worst
  in Japan Anonymous. Jiji Press English News
  Service Tokyo 19 Mar 2011.
• Tokyo, March 18 (Jiji Press)--Japan on Friday
  gave a provisional rating of Level 5 to accidents
  at the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors of Tokyo Electric
  Power Co.'s quake-damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear
  power plant, the worst for any nuclear accident
  that has happened in the nation.
• The No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors at the Fukushima
  plant are seen to have experienced partial
  meltdowns, the first such phenomenon in Japan, as
  their cooling system were damaged by tsunami
  waves unleashed by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake
  that hit the Tohoku northeastern Japan region
  including Fukushima Prefecture.
• At the No. 1, 2 and 4 reactors of Tokyo Electric
  Power's Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant, the
  pumping systems temporarily stopped working. The
  nuclear safety agency thus gave a rating of Level
  3 to the incidents. END

47
US Media Pre-bunkingInitial Assurances
Findings

• Its simply impossible to imagine anything like
  Chernobyl happening in these reactors, despite
  all the problems theyre having.
  http//www.npr.org/2011/03/14/134543680/sizing-up-
  japan-s-nuclear-emergency-no-chernobyl
• Stephen Kurczy Staff writer. The Christian
  Science Monitor March 17, 2011 byline Fear of
  Japan's nuclear crisis far exceeds actual risks,
  say scientists Pop culture has long helped fuel
  an irrational fear of radiation, and dire
  warnings about Japan's embattled Fukushima
  Daiichi nuclear power plant are likely overblown,
  scientists say.
• There is no question of a Chernobyl situation or
  of anything like the same threat to human health
  and safety An accident like Chernobyl cannot
  happen againthis is a reactor of a different
  generation. Even in the worst-case scenario of a
  total coolant failure, the radiation released
  will be hundreds of times less than from
  Chernobyl. http//www.thedailybeast.com/articles/
  2011/03/13/why-japans-nuclear-meltdown-is-no-chern
  obyl.html

Summary Report of RSMC Beijing on Fukushima
Nuclear Accident Emergency Response   WORLD
METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION CBS/CG-NERA/Doc. 5.4
(27.10.2011) Nuclear leaks occurred in
Fukushima and lasted for five days. The total
release amount was equal to that of Chernobyl
nuclear explosion p. 4
48
Lesson 2 WSJ Unable to Write Full Melt-Down

• Article Power, Stephen Smith, Rebecca (2011,
  July 18). Nuclear plant safety proposals put on
  fast track. The Wall Street Journal, p. A3.
• The print version of this article (referenced
  above) described the Fukushima mega-disaster as
  a partial meltdown
• Article Nuclear Plant Loses Electricity in
  Temblor. The Wall Street Journal August 24
• Electricity is needed to keep the reactor cores
  covered with coolant and to keep safe
  temperatures in spent fuel pools. Problems in
  both those areas led to the near-meltdown of
  reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan,
  following a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March
  11. http//online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311
  1903461304576526642400085456.html

49
December WSJ Finally Announces Meltdown

• Wall Street Journal finally reports Reactor Core
  Melted Fully, Japan SaysFuel Breeched Vessel
  Floor, Operator Says, in its Gravest Status
  Report M. Obe T. Fowler (2011, Dec 1), p. A8
• one reactors molten core likely burned through
  its primary containment chamber and then ate as
  far as three-quarters of the way through the
  concrete in a secondary vessel
• The New York Times had reported this level of
  meltdown May 25 Japan Sees Signs of 2 More
  Meltdowns by H. Tabuchi p. 10
• The plants operator also said that it was
  possible that the pressure vessels in the three
  stricken reactors, which house the uranium fuel
  rods, had been breeched as well. But most of the
  fuel remained inside the vessels, the company
  said far from a more severe nuclear meltdown in
  which molten fuel penetrates the ground, a
  calamity known as the China Syndrome

50
Meltdown was Really a Melt-Through, Reported in
June by the Yomiuri

• 'Melt-through' at Fukushima? / Govt report to
  IAEA suggests situation worse than
  meltdownhttp//www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110
  607005367.htm"Nuclear fuel in three reactors at
  the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has possibly
  melted through pressure vessels and accumulated
  at the bottom of outer containment vessels,
  according to a government report obtained Tuesday
  by The Yomiuri Shimbun."A "melt-through"--when
  melted nuclear fuel leaks from the bottom of
  damaged reactor pressure vessels into containment
  vessels--is far worse than a core meltdown and is
  the worst possibility in a nuclear accident.
• Justin McCurry Fukushima Nuclear Plant May Have
  Suffered Melt-Through, Japan Admits, The
  Guardian (2011, Jun3 8) http//www.guardian.co.uk
  /world/2011/jun/08/fukushima-nuclear-plant-melt-th
  rough?CMPtwt_gu 
•  Julian Ryall Nuclear Fuel Has Melted Through
  Base of Fukushima Plant, The Telegraph (2011,
  June 9) http//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8565020/
  Nuclear-fuel-has-melted-through-base-of-Fukushima-
  plant.html
• TEPCO Melted fuel ate into containment vessel
  http//www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20111130_39.ht
  ml

51
No Major U.S. Newspaper Reported the Melt-Through
in June-Nov

• Searched ABI and Lexus-Nexus using Fukushima and
  melt-through, Fukushima and meltthrough and
  Fukushima and China syndrome
• Japanese Press Melt-through at Fukushima? Govt
  report to IAEA suggests situation worse than
  meltdown. The Daily Yomiuri(Tokyo), June 8, 2011
  Wednesday, Pg. 1
• 1 US PAPER PICKED UP THIS REPORT INDIRECTLY. NO
  MENTION OF A MELT-THROUGH BE FOUND IN US MAJOR
  NEWSPAPERS AFTER THIS ONE REPORT UNTIL DEC

52
The 1 indirect report of the melt-through was
buried and on page A10.

• Chico Harlan (2011, June 8) Japan to create
  independent nuclear agency. The Washington Post,
  A10.
• As the disaster unfolded, Japanese authorities
  relied on computer models and uncertain data
  while trying to assess the full scope of the
  damage to the reactor cores. Even now, it will
  probably be years before guesses about units 1, 2
  and 3 turn into facts. But the government's
  admission Tuesday of a possible melt-through
  reaffirmed assumptions held by outside
  scientists.
• "It's much like the Japanese government conceding
  that gravity is a possibility," David Lochbaum,
  an independent nuclear power expert, wrote in an
  e-mail. "Studies for decades have consistently
  concluded that a reactor core without cooling and
  makeup will overheat, melt, slump to the bottom
  of the reactor vessel, and burn through the
  vessel wall and drop on to the drywell floor."

53
Australian Media Can Type It Melt-Through

• The Age (Melbourne, Australia) June 10, 2011
  Friday First EditionMeltdown to the core
  JAPANSECTION NEWS In Brief Overseas Pg.
  15LENGTH 121 wordsTOKYO. Molten nuclear fuel
  in three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power
  plant is likely to have burnt through pressure
  vessels, not just the cores. It is the first time
  Japanese authorities have admitted the
  possibility that the fuel suffered "melt-through"
  - more serious than a core meltdown. The report,
  which is to be submitted to the International
  Atomic Energy Agency, said fuel rods in reactors
  Nos. 1, 2 and 3 had probably not only melted, but
  also breached their inner containment vessels and
  accumulated in the outer steel containment
  vessels. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric
  Power (Tepco), says it believes the molten fuel
  is being cooled by water that has built up in the
  bottom of the three reactor buildings.

54
Lesson 2 Media Censorship Japanese Gov. and
Media Report Cold Shutdown Despite Increasing
Evidence of Iodine-131 and Spiking Cesium in Dec
2011.

• In this 4 minute clip, Prime Minister Noda of
  Japan explains that the claim of "cold shutdown"
  of the reactors was based on the average
  temperature of the overall reactor pressure
  vehicles (not bottom). 
• PM Noda refused to address journalists' questions
  concerning the status of the fuel rods given
  Tepco's previous admission that melt-throughs had
  occurred.  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vMxUQKJwk
  IeYfeatureplayer_embedded
• Fukushima Diary posted finding of Iodine-131 in
  dehydration sludge, sampled between 12/1 12/6
  in Japan. Original link here http//www.gesui.metr
  o.tokyo.jp/oshi/infn0579.htm
• Also here http//www.pref.gunma.jp/cate_list/ct000
  05089.html
• Evidence of Increasing detections of Iodine-131,
  which has an 8 day half life, indicate ongoing
  fission.
• Dr. Chris Busby also asserts ongoing fission in
  this Dec 27 Russia Today interview
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?v1F0uFAWV7uc

55
Cold Shutdown?

• The Mainichi Daily News News Navigator What is
  a 'cold shutdown' at the Fukushima nuclear plant?
  December 17 http//mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/ne
  ws/20111217p2a00m0na015000c.html
• Excerpted "Question What does it mean when a
  nuclear reactor has achieved a "cold shutdown?"
• Answer It means the reactors have been
  stabilized and shut down. Under normal
  circumstances this means control rods have been
  inserted into the gaps between the fuel rods in
  the reactor, and the temperature of the water in
  the reactor pressure con